An exciting new project is the works. It's called The Joint and it's an isometric apartment building that you can create your own room for. Currently, we are discussing all the options in our forums and we'd love to have your input before the launch.All you iso pixelists get over to the forums now!

For those who have been missing Family Guy since it's cancelation after only 3 seasons, buckle up... because it's coming back with a new season this Sunday 9/8c ON FOX! Immediately following will be the second episode of the all new American Dad (by the creators of Family Guy).

Follks over at www.deviantart.com must love us pixelartists because they've devoted a whole issue of TWENTY to us. Featured are 20 active pixel artists in deviantart. I must say that I'm honored and humbled to be a part of the list. Do check it out and visit the other featured pixel artists homepages.

LOS ANGELES — James Doohan, the burly chief engineer of the Starship Enterprise in the original "Star Trek" TV series and motion pictures who responded to the command "Beam me up, Scotty," died early Wednesday. He was 85.

There is now a write up and official section up at deviantART about the Pixelween contest, a joint effort between our two awesome sites.

For those who don't know, Pixelween 2005 is our Halloween contest this year. Members are asked to create a scene from or inspired from their favourite Halloween/Horror movie inside the provided template. Make sure you read the rules

* - deviantDOLLARS can be used anywhere, such as at the dA print store or getting more subs for yourself or others if you choose to share the love!

** - Due to the limited edition nature of deviantWEAR t-shirts, it may not be the shirt your heart desired because of availability issues. It has to be in stock at the time of your winning, in other words.

What do you get when you take the idea of a Litebrite and mix it with just another reason classic gaming still rocks?.S! (dot S) While most of the following site is in Japanese, I'm sure you can easily navigate your way through it. Create your own classic video game characters by pushing the pins through the holes (you can do it, I know you can!) Actually, when viewing the actual product in some pictures, it looks quite lame, but I thought it was worth showing anyways.

The scare-fest ended last week and finally the winners were decided upon. Check out halfliquid's official announcement over at deviantART. The judging was difficult (especially since we couldn't get all the judges together in one place at the same time) but, in the end, 3 excellent and horrific masterpieces were chosen upon:

Today marks the one year anniversary of Pixel Joint opening to the public. I suggest you all take the time to give Sedgemonkey some honor in building and organizing the largest online gallery/community of pixel artists ever. What started out as a blog/icon site has grown into an ever-changing collaborative community. Props go out to my main man Sedge!

Tad Stones, who is supervising director and supervising producer for the two upcoming straight-to-DVD Hellboy animated movies, continues to update the blog for the projects and has revealed a first look at the animated Abe Sapien. Read the blog for more information on its progress.

Side note: Some character design work was partially done by a great comic artist, Cheeks (aka Sean Galloway), who is also a member at deviantart. Check out his gallery.

Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright (genuises behind the successful comedy/horror flick, "Shaun of the Dead," as well as the Channel 4 comedy series still mostly unknown to the majority of people in North America called "Spaced.") are now in the production phase of their new movie. The movie is a buddy cop-type in the same... ahem... vein as SOTD. It will star Simon Pegg as police constable, Nicholas Angel and Nick Frost as Danny Butterman. A wide array of popular and talented British actors fill in the rest of the slots and it looks like it should be another great success for the two writers.

Read more on the upcoming movie (set for release in Feb '07) as well as other news on the cast of Spaced at their official website

If you have been living under a rock for the past six months or so or just don't give much attention to the world of pixels beyond this site, you've probably missed out on the action and progress that is called King of Spriters 2006!

Scuba Steve and many of the regulars over at Pixelopolis have been involved in developing their own characters to add to this pixel endeavor for the past little bit and it has been unleashed for all to see.

or at least he saved some folks from a strange series of events. This awesome 8 minute short film will give you insight as to the true power of a turntablist. Check out doubleedgefilms then click on Spin at the top and then clickWatch It at the bottom left. Can you say "aww yeah"? Hells yes!

Spider-Man first burst into the scene way back in 1962 in Amazing Fantasy #15. Fans all over the world have seen him reincarnated in various forms over the past 40+ years - from comics, to a number of animated cartoons, to the live action movies.

The rumor's have it! The next Batman movie, entitled The Dark Knight, will begin production in 2007 and will feature none other than Heath Leger as The Joker. Returning will be Christian Bale as Bruce/Batman and Christopher Nolan is once again set to direct.

Let's hope they don't pull another Hollywood tradition of killing a franchise after the first movie. Read the full scoop at Sci Fi Wire.

Big brother ain't watchin' you but you can listen in on what kind of music some of the other PJers listen to. Introducing Last.FM, the "Social Music Revolution" where what you listen to gets scrobbled into various charts on your user page. By joining up with the Pixel Joint group, you can also find out what your buddies here also listen to as well as tuning in to Pixel Joint radio. Currently, with only 9 members, the group won't have a chart listing until we reach 15 members. So sign up today and start scrobbling (whatever that really means).

This year, we want you to pixel a never before seen battle between two movie villians. The rules are pretty much the same as last year but with a few changes such as no animations, no photo traces, etc.

So far, we don't have any prizes to give out except some point awards and respect, but I am definitely working on getting something going on.

/Film has released news detailing that Paul W.S. Anderson is set to write and direct Castlevania, the movie based on the popular Konami video game series. As far as Mania is concerned, the movie has been in production since the middle of this year. I'm assuming with a release for 2007. Anderson, who has directed such see-saw films such as AVP and Resident Evil is sure to have either a major bomb or a major money maker on his hands. If anything, I'm certain it will breathe new life into the Castlevania video game franchise.

Some of you may have noticed an increase in my posting of humorous and unusual links in the shoutbox recently. This is all due to the discovery of a little thing called StumbleUpon. If you enjoy surfing the web in an effort to entertain yourself and others, this is an awesome tool. Basically you just go to the site, do a quick and simple sign up, and a toolbar is added to your browser. You get to choose from various categories you're interested in and with a simple click of the Stumble! button, you find yourself exploring the internet in a different way. Give it a thumbs up or down and it will create your personalized preferences to choose better pages to... um... stumble upon.

In honor of the Roman Empire and the death of its most famous and arguably best leader, Julius Caesar. This week's challenge is limited to 3 colors, red, yellow and black. Size and scope is up to you. Sample things include, Gladiators, warships, chariots, daily life, animals, scenes, weapons, architecture or anything else as long as it retains a Roman 'look'.

PS: It can be any shade of red, yellow and black even default MSPaint colors \o/

Pixel art is a considerably new art-form, which tends to attract people who are considerably new to art. People fall into art through dolls, making icons, making sprites, etc. and are often unaware of the artistic atmosphere that goes on in many communities. While some communities don't have this type of artistic atmosphere, Pixel Joint is one of the forums that do. And for those of you who are new to it, it may require a little adjustment. But with this program, hopefully you can transition into the art world easily.

Gas13 joined PixelJoint on January 21, 2005. Since then he has certainly made an impact around here and his gallery shows daring and experimentation worthy of study by all, from the newest to pixelart to seasoned pros.

All challenges aside, I am still sponsoring this years Pixelween competition. Huzzah! You have a much longer time to compete and complete this contest than the weekly challenges. So there's no excuses.

PixelJoint is very proud to feature Adarias the youngest pixel artist to be featured by PixelJoint so far. He is proof that age has nothing to do with pixel art prowess. The following conversation was held over a few weeks time via PMs. Some time lags occasionally happened because my pony, Pixiedust, requires so much of my attention. Originally I intended to have an informal conversation in very general terms with Adarias but the subject of color quickly overtook us and because Adarias has so much to share with us and his take on things are so thorough, I focused on this topic for the most part. Enjoy the wisdom he provides.

Pixeljoint's first repeat challenge is to again go to another member's gallery study their pixels and fool us into thinking that person made it.No copies, only 100% original work.Think style, technique and artistic sensibility.You must name the pixel artist in your submission.

No real rules this week but find the parameters set by the artist you choose.This applies to general size, color choices and don't forget to pay attention to preview icons.

The challenge thread will have all the challenge updates. The thread is also a great place to post your WIPs.

It's simple, create a team of superhero misfits. Use your creative juices, and create a team bonded by their unique traits. Each of them has to have some trait that bonds the team as a whole, yet have characteristics that make them unique in themselves.

colors: 32 max

size:250 x 200 pixels is the max

minimum of 3 characters in the piece (to be called a team)

animations: allowed

Transparency: NO

CHARACTERS CANNOT BE AN EXISTING CHARACTER OF ANY SORT!

Design-wise, you're as free as a bird: i.e., don't have to be humans, can be anything, just as long as it has enough life in it to presume some type of character.

Follow the rules, and have fun kiddos!

The challenge thread will have all the challenge updates. The thread is also a great place to post your WIPs.

Pixel the label for a fictional beverage (Only the label itself not the bottle/can/container).Think about the product you are creating as well as who you are marketing it to. Create an original logo while refraining from using existing fonts.

Rules:

Canvas Size: 150x200

Colour Restriction: 32 max

Animation: No

Transparency: none

No existing fonts allowed

The challenge thread will have all the challenge updates. The thread is also a great place to post your WIPs.

We ask that you refrain from submitting collaborated works as well as creating any collab accounts until further notice. The PJ staff are continuing to discuss and develop the site and, until such notice, will remain firm against any further submissions as such. Please keep in mind that this is not a criticism of any members or their works -- we're simply trying to determine the best way to deal with collaborations.

Pixel a scene in which extraterrestrials on a trip to earth are caught on camera. your pixel can be everything from a blurry 1960s ufo sighting photograph (like these oneshere) to a group picture with alien, just be creative.

Colors: 32 max

Canvas Size: 4:3 ratio, but 320x240 max

Transparency: None

Animation: None

The challenge thread will have all the challenge updates. The thread is also a great place to post your WIPs.

From Arachne comes this interesting challenge where you must draw something that has been reclaimed by nature. The idea is to draw some kind of abandoned, man-made structure or vehicle which is turning into a more natural part of the surrounding landscape. For instance, it could be a derelict house with an overgrown garden, or a rusty, sunken boat becoming a coral reef. Also, think of an abandoned city that has been reclaimed by nature over the past century.

Colors: 16 colorsCanvas: any sizeAnimation: noTransparency: no

The challenge thread will have all the challenge updates. The thread is also a great place to post your WIPs.

Handy pixelgrapher zi-double challenges you to pixel a historical memorial or monument from your town or country. No more than that, either - just the monument, no surrounding scene. It has to be a structure that only serves as a monument - so, for example, no churches turned monument. Make sure you post a reference link in the description so that your entry can be compared to the real thing.Isometric work is encouraged but not required.

Challenge winnervierbitchallenges you to pixel a scene which features objects casting shadows. The scene can depict anything; humans, animals, cars, trees, geometric forms etc... as long as the focus is on shadows and shadow play.